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“I was thinking we should all go under a tree because it was raining,” she said. “Then I thought it would be a good idea to kind of cover ourselves in some leaves and pine straw.”

That quick thinking helped keep Audrey, her 3-year-old brother, Leihum Velez, and 7-year-old friend and neighbor, Taylor Walsh, a little warmer as they waited more than six hours for rescuers to find them.

Lost little explorers

Hours earlier, Danielle Barber — Audrey and Leihum’s mom — stood watching all three kids playing in the street outside their Reserve at Woodbridge apartment building.

“The last time I saw them, they were outside riding bikes,” Barber said Wednesday.

She only looked away for a minute, she said.

When she looked at the street again, the kids were gone.

“As a parent, the worst things go through your mind,” she said. “I walked around and must have done a full sweep of the complex twice. There was no sign of them.”

While a frantic Barber searched the neighborhood, the kids began trudging into the dense forest between the apartment building and the neighborhood about a half-mile away on Knightsbridge Road.

As a parent, the worst things go through your mind.

Danielle Barber

“At first, we were up at the front of the woods running around,” Taylor said. “And when we were walking, we got turned around. Then, when we were trying to find our way back, we got lost.”